I couldn't believe I received another blog award! What a great surprise to see a comment from Patti at "A Series of 3rd Events". Thank you so much for choosing me! I am truly humbled and honored.

So now comes the hard part...picking JUST 15 blogs! There are so many blogging teachers out there that share their passion for teaching and wonderful ideas with all of us! So, here are the Award Rules...

*Thank the person who gives you the award. Link back to them in your post.

*Share 7 things about yourself.

*Pass this award along to 15 recently discovered blogs.

So before I tell you my 15, I need to share 7 things about me...

1. I am a Gramma to a precious little girl named Kennedy Grace. She'll be two next month. There's nothing like being a Gramma!

Sorry, had to do it! :)

2. I love anything vintage or antique. I LOVE to decorate our home!

3. Our yellow Lab, Maggie Bleu, is my baby! The first thing I do when I get home from work {after I put my purse and bag down} is play fetch with her. She even sleeps in bed with us. Yeah, she's spoiled!

Oh My Goodness! I can't believe it! Imagine my surprise when I received a message from the sweet Melissa at Teaching Fashionista telling me she had an award for me! I am so humbled and honored. Thank you so much, Melissa!

This is what the award is all about:

I Heart Your Blog Award: (so sweet I had to share)

Adear friend of mine taught me a profound lesson several years ago when she shared her personal mantra,

"There Is Only Love". Since then, I have realized that by adopting this mantra in my own life, I have changed my whole approach to everything I experience. That being said, as a total newbie to the teacher's blogging world, I discovered this gold mine of amazingly creative and talented teachers out here in cyber space. There are so many of you spreading the teaching Love around the globe by sharing your ideas and experiences. I just had to create a blog award to celebrate those of you who have touched my heart and inspired me, increasing my LOVE of teaching.

Thank you for sharing your talent with the world!

(OK, I keep finding soooo many of you to love!!!)

Rules:

1. Give the "I Heart Your Blog "Award to your favorite Top 10 Blogs that have touched your heart and inspired your teaching by listing them on your blog.

2. Contact that person and let them know of their heartfelt award.

3. When you receive the award,

copy and paste the graphic onto your

blog and give a shout out to the person who nominated you. 4. Spread the LOVE by passing the "Heart Your Blog" Award on your Top 10. MY TOP TEN:

Well, the twins baby show invitation isn't either bad or ugly...that's precious! And the ponytail holder isn't bad either. However, you also see a receipt from the bookstore, the candy wrappers and froop loops. Uh, yeah.

I'm linking with Clutter-Free Classroom for a "Peek In My Planbook Week". So here's a peek at one thing we did this week.

We focused on "Characters" this week in reading. Our story was A Day's Work which is a story about a little boy, Francisco, that wants to help his abuelo {grandfather}find work. His grandfather has just arrived to this country and only speaks Spanish. The little boy tells a lie to get his grandfather the job of as a gardener. He tells the man that his abuelo was a gardener in Mexico. However, since abuelo isn't really a gardener, and Francisco doesn't know anything about plants, they pull out the ice plants and keep the chickweed. Fortunately, the little boy learns a very important lesson about lying.

Half of the class focused on Francisco and half of the class focused on Abuelo. We brainstormed a great list of words that would describe characters toward the beginning of the week. All week, students focused on "what their character said" and "what their character did". Toward the end of the week, students received a graphic organizer to get their thoughts in place on their character.

Friday, students met in groups depending on their character. They compared their graphic organizer, made decisions on words that really described their characters, and then chose someone to write their ideas on chart paper.

Students then chose two reporters to report their findings and show their chart on their character.

After each group presented their chart, as a class, we try to make connections between these two characters and any other character that we have read this year.

They really had a good time with this activity, and it was a successful activity!

Hope you had a great week. Can't wait to see other's "peek of their week".

I attended a workshop a couple of years ago. This workshop led by Dr. Marsha Tate was like no other that I've ever attended...and I've attended a lot!

Going into the workshop, I wasn't quite sure what "Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites" even meant! I thought how boring this would be. WRONG! The energy in the room full of teachers was incredible! When I left the workshop, I was pumped up so much! I couldn't wait to get started on my "whole brain" classroom! While several things that were "key", I already had in place for years, there were some I didn't. I have always been a huge proponent of grouping student desks! That is very important in the whole brain classroom. Also, having no feeling of threat has always been a HUGE, GIGANTIC deal in my classroom. I tell my kiddos that no one has the right to make them feel bad about themselves or the right to keep you from learning! I start first thing every year establishing a "classroom community"! I reinforce this all year long. This is a MUST in the whole brain classroom.

Some things that I have learned are:

An attention getter such as...

teacher: "Class"

students: "Yes"

teacher: "Classity Class"

students: "Yessity Yes"

is important.

However you say "class" {in a growly voice, class-class-class, squeaky voice, etc.} students respond with "yes" in the same voice.

Also, when you have something really BIG or IMPORTANT, give the signal...

teacher: "Hands and Eyes!"

Students will put hands in lap and focus on or almost stare at the teacher.

Teaching in chunks is of the utmost importance. Once you have taught your students a chunk, then you clap and say "Teach" and they clap and say "Ok". They turn to their partner and teach what you have just taught. You do the "class-yes" to get their attention back.

Gestures are important too. When having students read a passage to their partner, for example, they will read dramatically and use hand gestures. When they are teaching their part as previously mentioned, they will use hand gestures when they teach. This helps them to remember what they are teaching.

Movement is very important. One activity that Dr. Tate had us participate in was "appointments". In a huge room of teachers, we had to go find two people that you weren't sitting with. You had to ask for an "appointment"...one person for a morning appointment, and one for an afternoon one. Once you got your two appointments, you return to your seat. Then sometime in the morning she would stop what she was doing and say, "It's time for your morning appointment. You need to find out.."insert whatever here" from the person you meet with. Then in the afternoon, this would take place with your afternoon appointment just as the morning one, with the exception of the task with this person was a different one.

An example is to have them teach something in particular from Math that day. Once they got the answer, they were to return to their seats. This got them up and active but with a meaningful task to teach something to someone else. This helps them to better understand what was taught, as well as, helping the person they are meeting with.

I found another site that is really good at teaching teachers how to teach in a whole brain classroom. You may want to check it out here. There are some great classroom videos on this site!

And, I 'm going to leave you with this...It's a freebie of my "appointment cards". I have added a text box for each appointment in case you want them to find an answer to something at their appointment and write it down.

Hello everyone! I'm Rebecca, and this is my new teaching blog. Actually, I have been blogging for four years on Our Back Porch, my personal blog. So if you enjoy decorating with vintage/antique finds, stop by for a visit!

I have had a teacher site for 6 years, Alpha Apple, so perhaps you have stopped by there before. However, since I love to blog, I decided to get this party started at The Teacher's Chatterbox.{tubes by Rosey Posey Pixels}

When I got started creating Alpha Apple, I fell in love with pixel graphics! So much so, that I began learning about making tubes. I then started drawing lineart for others to create tubes. I found a talent that I didn't know existed, and a huge passion for it as well. So I opened Whimsical Beginnings, my pixel membership website five years ago.

Teaching is my biggest passion! Actually, it is my calling in life! Previously, I taught preschool for nine years. When my last child started kindergarten, I headed back to school. I got my degree in Elementary Ed. and got a job teaching 3rd grade immediately upon graduation. Thank Goodness ! Then, in my second year of teaching, I went back to get my Master's in Curriculum and Instruction. I am now in my fourteenth year in third grade.

Our old dilapidated school building had run it's course, and a new school has been built. Last year was quite the experience as the new school was going up behind our old school. Construction was Kuh-RaZy!!!!! But we made it, and this is our first year in our brand new GREEN school! It is so awesome!

I have met so many wonderful people through blogging that share my love for decorating with vintage/antique finds. I know I am going to be so blessed by meeting many more bloggers who share my passion for teaching our children. I'm so excited to be starting this new venture.

There are others that have just begun their blog. Head over to Teaching Blog Addict, who so kindly has welcomed us newbies, and let us link up so others could find us. A BIG thank you to her!!!

Whew! Long Monday since I am tutoring after school. So this post will be short and sweet. I have a freebie that I wanted to get out to you all. It is Parts of a Story. This one was made on my Mac instead of my PC, so please let me know if you have any trouble opening it! You can find it here...

I found this idea at Sunny Days in Second Grade. Denise had found it on Pinterest...so of course, I had to repin it! Feel free to do so as well! What a great way to keep dice from flying across the room during a game! So simple and SO CLEVER! Thanks for bringing that to our attention, Denise!

Who doesn't adore STICKY NOTES! OMG this is the coolest tut on creating your own! Check out Kristen's tutorial at Ladybug's Teacher Files.

There's a great linky party going on over at Lesson Plan Diva. It's a Facebook Party! Come by and like my FB page, The Teacher's Chatterbox. Head over to Lesson Plan Diva to get linked up for the party! I'd love to come by yours and "like" you too! :)

Penguin Chick by Betty Tatham is one of our basal stories in third grade. The kiddos always enjoy our Penguin unit that we do along with this selection! They love learning all kinds of cool facts about these amazing creatures.

If you haven't seen the documentary film, March of the Penguins, you must! The film depicts the life of emporer penguins and their journey across Antarctica.

It is amazing to see the great lengths that the father and mother penguin go to, to keep their penguin egg/chick safe!

My third graders got a chance to see first hand how difficult it is to transfer the egg from one parent to the other, and keep the little egg safe. I paired my students up, and the transferring began.

Each pair of students received a "penguin egg" straight from Antarctica...my coworker's husband's workshop. lol My kiddos had the best time with this activity! No hands could be used because penguins don't have that luxury. However, the penguin does had a beak to help pull the egg on top of his feet, and a brood pouch to keep it warm...two things that we didn't have the luxury of!